their coats and slapped their hands against each other
to preserve their warmth.

After some little delay, Sampson and his son came down from the hut with
a lantern in each of their hands. They had locked the door behind them,
which showed that they were ready for a final start. By the lights
which they carried it could be seen that they were dressed in yellow
suits of oilskin and sou'wester hats, as if prepared for a wet night.

"You ain't half dressed for a cruise of this kind," Sampson said.
"You'll be nigh soaked through, I fear."

"That's our look-out," answered Ezra. "Let us get off."

"Step in, sir, and we'll get in after."

The dinghy was shoved off into the surf, and the two seamen clambered in
after. Ezra and his father sat in the sheets, while the others rowed.
The sea was running very high--so high that when the dinghy lay in the
trough of a wave they could see neither the boat for which they were
steering nor the shore which they had left--nothing indeed but the black
line of hissing water above their heads. At times they would go up
until they hung on the crest of a great roller and saw the dark valleys
gaping beyond into which they were forthwith precipitated. Sometimes,
when they were high upon a wave, the fishing-boat would be between the
seas, and then there would be nothing of her visible except the upper
portion of her mast. It was only a couple of hundred yards, but seemed
a long journey to the shivering fugitives.

"Stand by with the boat-hook!" Sampson cried at last. The dark outline
of the boat was looming immediately above them.

"All right, father."

The dinghy was held alongside, and the two gentlemen scrambled aboard as
best they could, followed by their companions.

"Have you the painter, Jarge?"

"Ay, ay."

"Make it fast aft then!"

The lad fastened the rope which held the dinghy to a stanchion beside
the tiller. Then he and his father proceeded to hoist the foresail so
as to get the boat's head round.

"She'll do now," Sampson cried. "Give us a hand here, sir, if you don't
mind."

Ezra caught hold of the rope which was handed him and pulled for some
time. It was a relief to him to have something, however small, which
would distract his mind from the events of the night.

"That will do, sir," the skipper cried, and, leaning over the bows, he
seized the anchor which Ezra had hauled up, and tumbled it with a crash
on the deck.

"Now, Jarge, with three reefs in